Finished stripping the chassis down so fabricated a pair of adapters for my rollover jig to fit the front and rear of the bug. All rolled over and ready for IRS conversion and bus gearbox adapter next week.
IRS conversion in progress. Chassis clearanced for the first bracket. Now just to repeat this on the other side and get them welded in.
I need to do a bit more research into it but I believe Porsche 924/944 CVs, axles and stub axles are a straight fit.
IRS trailing arm mounts welded in today. Jig aligned and seam welded in short sections to avoid putting too much heat into the metal. Tomorrow’s job is to get the bus gearbox adapter fitted then hopefully get the chassis off to the shot blaster at the end of the week!
Will the frame horns need clearancing for the CVs like when fitting an IRS bug gearbox or does it sit slightly higher? The bus box is also slightly wider than a bug one so the inside flanges on the framehorns might need trimming too.
Yeap, it's not quite plug and play. The adapter came with decent instructions so I need to do the following: Clearance inside framehorn flanges. Move the clutch and throttle cable guide outwards to make room for the front of the gearbox. Weld on a pair of tabs to the framehorns. Weld on a new front mount. I'm going to make the front mount a bolt on item instead though to use the original mounts. In theory the frame horns shouldn't need clearancing for the output shafts, but from my mock ups today it sits too close to the horns for my liking so I'll be making a bit more room around them (see next post).
Made a good start on getting the bus gearbox to fit the bug chassis today. Frame horns clearanced to make room for it, and throttle/clutch cable guide tubes moved outwards.
Further fabrication and welding for the bus gearbox today. Framehorns clearanced to make room for the output shafts (it’s a big boy!) Rear mounts welded to the framehorns. Plate fabricated and front mount welded to it so I can use the original mounting bolts to attach it to the chassis (plate made from 3mm steel which is hard work bending!)
Last upholstery job for the baja; the front seats. Max and B are happy that they’re comfy, and they fit me well too so time to make some new covers!
Back at my day job last week after 4 weeks furlough. I managed to get a huge amount done on the bug over the last month, to the point that the chassis is nearly ready for some paint. Dropped off at Metalblast today for shot blasting, ready for me to epoxy it when I get it back.
A very wet day yesterday! Stream in the forest burst its banks so ended up cycling through 1ft of water. Stupidly ignored a road closed sign on the way home and hit 18inches or so of flood water! On the plus side I got the front beam all stripped down ready to clean up and add some reinforcement to.
A few pics from the shot blasters today. Picking up the chassis tomorrow and into primer on Friday! Can’t wait.
Making a start on reupholstering the baja’s MX5 seats this week. Passenger base is done and test fitted to the cushion. Just need to hog ring them to the frames once the back is done.
Chassis all epoxy primed today. Always nice to start getting some paint onto things. Turkey keeping me company today, he’s a big lad!